120 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 



nest, it showed no alarm at the click of the shutter 

 as the exposure was made. This surprised me not 

 a little. The camera was usually about three feet 

 from the bird, the exposure was necessarily rapid 

 (^ second and stop 8), the snap of the old-style 

 " Henry Clay," used on the first day, or even of the 

 less loud Iris diaphragm, could be plainly heard at 

 a distance of several yards, and its failure to startle 

 these nervous, easily frightened birds makes one 

 suspect that their hearing is deficient. 



The nests of the Terns that chose the upland for 

 a home were often picturesquely surrounded by 

 stunted sumach or blooming yarrow, but the birds 

 here were far less easy to photograph because of 



62. Tern brooding young. Same nest as No. (!0. 



the difficulty of thoroughly concealing one's camera. 

 The owner of an especially pleasing nesting site kept 

 me beneath my bit of sail for somewhat over two 

 hours, while she if it was she hung in the air just 



